Muséum national d'histoire naturelle _ The species

FROM : Gave de Pau, Pau, Pyrénées Atlantiques, France
SIZE : 28 x 15 cm

This sample is a geode of puddingstone containing crystals of white transparent calcite. This calcite is named "calcite-diamond" for its exceptional lustre and brightness. These crystals have different shapes: scalenohedral, more or less spheric, flattened, elongated.

This specimen comes from Gave de Pau in the Pyrénées Atlantiques and measures 28 x 15 cm.

Acquired thanks to support from Total, it is today kept in the storage rooms of the collections of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (i.e., not yet displayed to the public).

Photography : Louis-Dominique Bayle , © MNHN.

SPECIE : Calcite

HISTORY : Name inspired from the Latin word "calx" meaning burned chalk

Species first described in 1836 by Johann Karl Freiesleben (1774-1846), officer of the mines of Saxony

Type-locality: undefined because species already known from the Ancients
ANCIENT NAME : Spath d'Islande, chaux carbonatée

CHEMICAL FORMULA : Ca CO3
CRYSTAL SYSTEM : Rhomboedric
COLOR : Colourless, white, color depending on inclusions
DIAPHANIETY : Transparent to opaque
LUSTER : Vitreous, pearly
STREAK : White
MORPHOLOGY : Well-formed crystals common, forming concretions
HARDNESS : 3,0
DENSITY : 2,71

CHEMICAL CLASS : V - Carbonates, nitrates
GROUP : Calcite
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : 5/B.02-20
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 5.AB.05

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Calcite

MNHN N°204.48

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